James Cameron to Travel Solo to the Ocean's Deepest Point

As the creative force behind of such cinematic blockbusters as Titanic and Avatar, director James Cameron has risen to a level of fame most can only dream of. But, in his latest undertaking as a pioneering oceanic explorer with the National Geographic, the much lauded filmaker is bound to reach an epic low.

In the coming weeks, Cameron plans to do something no one has ever done before -- travel alone to reach the furthest depths of the ocean to the bottom the Mariana Trench, some six miles beneath the waves. There, at the deepest point on the Earth's surface, remains one of the least understood places on the planet, an alien region quite possibly home to lifeforms never before observed by science.

Working with a team from the National Geographic scientific institution, the filmaker will descend into the trench aboard an ultra-sturdy submersible, the Deepsea Challenger, to shed light on an ecosystem where the sun cannot reach.